Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Pay Any Price in his element
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – As participants in the rich Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship at Gulfstream Park this weekend, the ownership partners in Pay Any Price might not be inclined to use their stable star when placing their contest wagers Saturday ahead of the $175,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint.
The price will be too short – which, all in all, is a very good thing for Richie Averill and his partners, the brothers Paul and Duke Matties.
“That’s kind of a separate deal,” said Averill, the Bradenton, Fla., construction magnate who relishes his horseplaying in addition to owning a sizable stable. “We’d love to see this horse take another step forward. We’re really hoping to make the Breeders’ Cup [Turf Sprint] at Churchill Downs with him this year.”
Pay Any Price has developed into a force in the turf-sprint niche, particularly at the fivefurlong distance of the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint, one of three ungraded turf stakes on the 12-race Pegasus card. He is the morning-line favorite in a field of 11 in the Turf Sprint, which also drew such hard knockers as Richard’s Boy and Rainbow Heir.
Gifted with extraordinary early speed, Pay Any Price has won 11 of 18 starts in a career that was slow to begin because of various problems. The 8-year-old gelding has won six of nine starts and earned big Beyer Speed Figures since being claimed for $25,000 in July 2016 by trainer Ralph Ziadie on behalf of the partners. He enters on a three-race win streak, all at five furlongs.
Richard’s Boy actually defeated Pay Any Price by a neck when they comprised the exacta in their only prior meeting, the Jim McKay Turf Sprint last May at Pimlico. Sent here by Peter Miller with the other California participants on this blockbuster card, Richard’s Boy will be turning back from a 6 1/2-furlong downhill race at Santa Anita that followed a huge runner-up finish behind his stablemate Stormy Liberal in the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint going five furlongs at Del Mar.
Rainbow Heir, bred and owned by the New Farm of Ebby Novak, has won 13 of 30 career starts. The New Jersey-bred 8-year-old also will be turning back slightly after winning at six furlongs in the Turf Sprint Championship at Aqueduct to end a productive 2017 campaign for trainer Jason Servis.
◗ Whereas the Turf Sprint (race 10, 4:14 p.m. Eastern) is a key leg in the Rainbow 6 (races 7-12), its sister race, the $175,000 Ladies’ Turf Sprint (race 6, 2:01) will be the last race run before the sequence begins.
Pretty Perfection won this race last January on the inaugural Pegasus card for trainer Kelly Breen, and although her form has been a tad erratic in the intervening 12 months when occasionally straying from these shorter turf dashes, she still can boast a 3-for-3 record over the Gulfstream turf. The 6-year-old mare is one of the deserving favorites among a cast of 12 in a contentious ninth running of the Ladies’ Turf Sprint.
“She sure did love the Florida grass last year,” Breen said. “She’s doing great, and we’ve been pointing to this race for quite a while.”
The strength of the field appears to be drawn in the outside gates, with Pretty Perfection breaking from post 10, Brandy’s Girl in 11, and Blue Bahia in post 12. Blue Bahia, still on an upward climb for Servis, enters off a dominant victory in the Claiming Crown Distaff Dash, in which the mare earned a career-high 95 Beyer.
◗ In contrast to the wide-open Ladies’ Turf Sprint, there’s an apparent standout in the third and final ungraded turf stakes, the $125,000 South Beach, which directly precedes the Pegasus as race 11 (4:50). Celestine, a Grade 1 winner with an 8-for-18 record and earnings of more than $1.1 million, surely will go postward lower than her 5-2 morning line with Jose Ortiz riding.
“She has spent the last few winters of her life at Payson Park and loves it,” said Christophe Clement, whose stable also will be represented by Stormy Victoria, the second program choice. “The plan is for her to be bred this spring, but we thought she could maybe win another stakes or two before she leaves. She is training very well, and we are looking forward to having her back Saturday.”
Contenders in a field of 12 fillies and mares in the 10th running of the 7 1/2-furlong South Beach include Storm the Hill, Ghostly Presence, and Miss Hollywood.